Poor villager spends his life’s savings and more to get married, bride leaves him 3 days after wedding

One poor fellow surnamed Liu from a village in rural Shanxi province paid a substantial sum of money to get married to his dream girl, who left him only three days into their marriage. The “gone girl” hasn’t been found and his money is long gone as well.Three years ago, this twenty-something guy surnamed Liu spent his wedding night inside this simple home built into a cave.According to NetEase, his bride-to-be was from a nearby village. He met her on a blind date in February 2013 and they soon decided to tie the knot. The marriage cost him quite a lot of money. “I spent 200,000 RMB on this marriage in all,” he recalled. “85,800 RMB was for my wife’s family and I spent 20,000 RMB on gold jewelry. When her family came to visit, they took another 10,000 RMB and then i gave them an additional 30,000 RMB. The remaining 60,000 RMB was spent on the wedding reception.”“I don’t have that much money, so I had to borrow it from someone. If I borrow 10,000 RMB, I have to pay back 100 RMB each month.”In order to keep his new wife happy, he got another loan to buy a house in the village. His family was happy for him, but worried at the same time. His sister said that her new sister-in-law didn’t speak with her brother on a regular basis, and she never saw the two holding hands. The only thing that seemed to capture the bride’s attention was her own mobile phone. Three days into their marriage, she was gone.Here’s Liu’s sad story:“She said that she wanted to buy something so she needed a ride. After giving her a ride, I waited around for her, but she didn’t come back. I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. After a few days, I got wind of where she worked. I went down to the gas station, but she ignored me. I went back a few days later, but she had disappeared. I never heard from her again.”Liu has never left the village where he grew up. After graduating from secondary school, he began working as a cook at a local hotel for four or five years. When faced with the cruel reality of his predicament, he confessed that he just couldn’t handle it, fainting from all the pressure. “After my marriage, she left me and I was so furious. I was even hospitalized. The doctor said that my brain was overworked,” he said.After his wife left him, he hired a lawyer to file a civil lawsuit against her. The court summoned her to appear, but, of course, she didn’t show up. Therefore, the court decided to fine her in absentia. “According to the verdict, she’s required to pay 90,000 RMB back to me,” Liu explained. It’s now been three years since the court rendered its verdict. He’s still got no wife and no money.Meanwhile, the bills just keep piling up, including 170,000 RMB for the house, 60,000 RMB for medical treatments and 20,000 RMB for the lawsuit. Liu says he is at least 80,000 RMB in debt. His failed marriage has also turned into a huge burden on his family.Liu confessed that he has been on a few blind dates after the tragedy, but says that couldn’t afford to have another wedding anyway. It’s not just Liu that is struggling with the skyrocketing price of marriage in China. In other villages similar to his, men of marriageable age are having difficulty finding a partner, with women reluctant to marry a guy from a poor village.This guy must be truly heartbroken, but at least he didn’t find out that his beautiful bride was actually a man.By Katie Ngai[Images via NetEase]